Fulbright Association, New Mexico Chapter (NMFA) Board ZOOM Meeting Minutes April 18, 2021
Attending: Carol Larroque (CL), Andre Larroque (AL), Merideth Paxton (MP), Ken Carpenter (KC), Steve Bishop (SB), Robert Czerniak (RC), Cleophas Muneri (CM), Marcella Jones (MJ), Jenna Hagengruber (JH)
Minutes and Reports: Approval of Minutes: Board members approved the minutes from the January 24, 2021 meeting with minor revisions. AL will make revisions and send PDF to BC for posting on website. Treasurer’s report: Chapter Treasurer AL reported that the association has $2,006.76 in the bank account which includes a $60.00 member dues rebate to the Chapter for the period 7/20 – 12/20. He stated that he is still working on obtaining the tax-exempt status from the NM Tax & Revenue Department and researching board insurance with Fulbright national office. Advocacy report: On 4/14/21
Chapter President CL and AL participated in a ZOOM meeting with Michael Hawes of Fulbright and Blair Hammond, Legislative Correspondent with Senator Martin Heinrich’s office. This meeting was arranged by the Fulbright national organization and was basically centered on awareness of Fulbright and its “Ask” for an increase in funding to $300 M in the next congressional budget. Ms. Hammond stated that Sen. Heinrich supports programs on diplomacy and advocates for Fulbright in his position on the Senate Appropriations Committee. She said that she would share the information from this meeting with Sean, the Foreign Affairs staffer. She also agreed to be included on our distribution list for notification of NMFA events. CL said that chapter members should contact her if they are interested in attending or having future advocacy-related meetings.
Old Business
- Partnering with other organizations: CL reported that she recently had a ZOOM call with Maria Goodfellow, UNM Peace Corps recruiter to discuss possible collaboration. Peace Corps’ 60th anniversary and Fulbright’s 75th coincide this year. A possible joint outreach event for students was discussed for the next fall semester (September 2021). SB and JH expressed interest in working with Maria Goodfellow on such a student outreach event. CL suggested having joint events with the Returning Peace Corps Volunteers organization.
- Statewide Member Outreach: CL announced that the Chapter has gained 5 or 6 new members since January. CL messaged new members welcoming them to our Chapter. MP suggested that outreach could be facilitated statewide using ZOOM presentations.
Chapter Secretary Linney Wix has sent out an email notification to all members regarding Susi Knoblauch’s next concert.
Dave Dubois presentation: Dr. Dave Dubois, NM State Climatologist, gave a Chapter online presentation entitled “New Mexico’s Climate and the Role of Citizen Scientists” on 3/21/21. His talk was well-received although MP mentioned an issue with the link to the presentation.
Letter to colleges: MP will revise the letter sent to the students from Argentina for distribution to NM colleges informing them about Fulbright. SB sent contact info to her.
- Chapter website: CL said that there was a problem with the link to the chapter website. Also, the NMFA page includes posts from other chapters such as California. The map of chapters needs updating. BC said he would follow up with Christine, Fulbright Chapter Coordinator on Monday to resolve these issues.
- Argentinean students: BC, MP and CL put together a ‘thank you’ letter which was sent individually to each student. MP suggested we invite them to future online events.
New Business
Fulbright in the Classroom Grant: CL reported on the announcement of this grant which offers $750 to accepted individual chapters who wish to promote the Fulbright experience in schools from kindergarten to community college with the emphasis on rural, minority, and under-served schools. This can be performed by an individual or team and at least three schools should be visited. She would like to pursue application for the grant and asks others who might be interested to do so. The application is due 5/1/21. MJ and SB are also interested in participating.
Future Events and Activities 1. 5/16/21 presentation by Dr. Katy Crawford-Garrett: This 2:00 pm presentation entitled Teach First New Zealand, becoming a Teacher and Challenging Educational Inequity will be introduced by JH who has sent info to BC for inclusion on website.
Future presentation by Ken Carpenter: KC has offered to present on “Community Safety and Human Security” possibly in July (“flexible”).
Possible presentation by Kristina Jacobsen, Fulbright Scholar who returned from Sardinia.
Charlie Knoblauch talk on Constitution (pending).
Potential future advocacy activities: 1. Meet with Rep. Teresa Leger-Fernandez. 2. Talk by Sec. of Interior, Deb Haaland. 3. ZOOM with Sen. Martin Heinrich. 4. Make contact with incoming District 1 Congressional Representative. 3 CL said that all meetings and events should be assumed to be held by ZOOM for now until COVID-19 restrictions are loosened to the point where we can once again meet in person. The board plans to meet every three months during 2021.
The next meeting of the Fulbright board is scheduled for July 18, 2021 at 2:00 pm. Minutes prepared by Andre Larroque for Linney Wix, Secretary